Category: Uncategorized

As I’ve been continuing to learn Bowen Theory, I’ve noticed how it has been shaping my perceptions. Just as an optical lens brings some things into focus rather than others, the lens of this theory nudges my attention in certain directions. For example, I may ...

(The following is an abridged version of a longer piece by Ashley North LMFT, faculty and board member of the Western PA Family Center.  You can hear more from Ms. North at the WPFC Fall Conference and Symposium, where she will be a featured speaker ...

Sometimes when I want to calm my brain at night from the day’s activities, I watch a program about the vastness of the universe.  Listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson describe the universe and black holes, I soon rise above the petty concerns of the day. ...

I couldn’t escape the irony of it all.  As a young therapist, I was doing rather well at a new job in a family counseling program. Yet as the mom of a 13-year-old daughter who  rhapsodized about her best girlfriend’s mother and shunned contact with ...

Today I play ocean waves To block out sounds As I try to meditate. I recall listening to The same rich rhythm Of waves 10 months ago When confined to our home To avoid the virus. So much has happened During these 10 months. Too much to ...

As a newer student of Bowen Family Systems Theory, I have struggled with the idea of blame and responsibility. Coming from a heavy psychology background, I have naturally approached problems from an individual mindset where there is one single thing to blame (a person, an ...

I would have answered once upon a time with more questions: “How could helping be overrated? Isn’t helping others a good thing?” I answer that question differently now: Helping is overrated when it is driven more by my own anxiety than by the real needs ...

WPFC, founded as an educational center for those interested in learning a theory about how families and organizations work, operates with the tenets of Bowen systems theory in paying attention to relationships, in thinking and managing self in ways that show the principles of the ...

Candie and Miles* were upset and afraid.  Their neighborhood had recently erupted in multiple instances of gun violence, some of which had happened right in front of their home. They wanted to move as soon as possible.   When this couple shared their prayer request ...

Will history recall 2020 as the start of a new civil rights movement? This year’s events have certainly moved me.  Violent policing of people of color, widespread protests, a deadly virus that disproportionately affects Blacks  – all have prompted me to examine my role in ...